Friends

Monday morning I got an email from my friend Molly letting many of us know that our dear friend Karen Brown's father had had a stroke and it didn't look good. I was shocked. I immediately called Fern who was visitng Karen in Texas for the weekend and was told how bad it was. I called Karen who was on her way to Indiana and got to talk to her. Karen's dad was 61 years old. Karen didn't make it in time to see her dad, he died an hour before she could get there. I was in shock. Karen had a really great dad, a hands on grandfather and just a wonderful guy. He was young and he died so quickly. It is so sad to see your friends lose their parents. I was in a funk on Monday, I just couldn't believe it and I was so sad for my great friend Karen.

I had the great honor to hear Dick Vitale talk last night at a small dinner party. The topic of the dinner was "Passionaries" and "Legacy". We were all challenged before dinner to share with our dinner partners what kind of legacy we wanted to leave and how our parents helped form what kind of legacy we would leave.

On the way home in the car it became clear to me. My mother who died at 40 (I was 14) left me the legacy to make friends. My father who died last year taught me everything else. My father taught me to live each day with enthusiasm. That life is not fair. That you control the power to make each day great. He taught me the importance of an education. He taught me not to leave dirty dishes in the sink. He taught me to love.

Many of you know I have been sad since my father died. What I realized last night was that it is my enthusiasm that has been down. It takes time to recover from the death of a parent and I am in the process of getting my enthusiam back. have patience with me.

Life is what you make it, another great Marvism and my father was right. This year I have chosen gratitude as my word for the year. I want to be more greatful each day. I am working on it.

I am so sorry my dear friend Karen, I am here for you.

Happy Birthday Amy

Hey girl, I am so sorry I missed your birthday. Hope you had a great one. So glad we got to spend some special time together on Sunday. Thanks for beging such a great friend.

Valentines Project

I got lost in Scrap Scene the other day and one blog led to the next and so on and so on. I found this really cute project using a candy heart box on someones blog and decided to give it a try. I think mine actually came out better!!!

New Addiction

Those who know me well know I watch a lot of TV. I watch it every night after dinner while I scrap or do something else. Well I rented Brothers and Sisters Season 1 from Netflix last weekend, it is 6 disks, so last weekend I got disk 1 just to see if I would like it, well, 1 disk and I was hooked. This past weekend while scrapping I watched disk 2 and 3 and now as soon as I get my 3 new Netflix this week I will have 3 more disks!!!! What a great show, with a great cast and a crazy family.

This was a busy weekend, I croppped at K2 on Friday night with a full crowd. I got to catch up with Amanda and Charlene. The studio was hopping. I am looking forward to the special crop and class this Sunday. Saturday I had the best massage, I have been going to the same person for 14 years now and I just love Eileen at Massage Works on Bee Ridge. Saturday night we went to the Junghans and hung out with them and the Jones and played poker, I was actually the big winner.

Busy week this week, I have 2 huge events next week to get ready for. Don't forget Scrap and Dash this week on Wednesday, bring a 5x7 valentines picture for the layout.

Layouts completed this weekend

All of my local friends are saying, "hey I didn't get that holiday card from Jocie" and that would be correct. We only printed and sent 50 cards this year and all of them went out of state. As most of you know I didn't send cards last year because of the death of my dad but this year we cut back. So enjoy the layout and you get to see my family in person during the year!

I had a lot of fun with my Design Team kit from K2 for January, all the Love Elsie papers in the Zoe line. At first I thought what am I going to do with them but I must say I am happy with how they turned out. I will bring them by the studio this week. I really only need to finish a couple more layouts for 2007 and the year is completely scrapped except for our Africa trip, but I may never finish that, I have so many projects in mind for all my pictures. Dont' forget Scrap and Dash is this Wednesday at K2 and I just finished today the Scrap and Dash for next Wednesday.

Back to a full week of work tomorrow. Happy New year!

My New Garage

I just love my new shelves in my garage. I know that sometimes it is the little things in life that just make you happy. On Christmas Day Jeff and I cleaned the entire garage and threw out enough junk to fill a dumpster. Luckily the next day was trash day and the trash people took it all away! We cleared out the alcove in our garage and on Friday Bernie our handyman arranged for Eli and Steven to come and build me some shelves. I feel like I have an entertaining closet now. I just love it. Thanks Handy Dandy Daddy!